Magnetic Field Mapping using Off-Axis Electron Holography in the Transmission Electron Microscope

Off-axis electron holography is a powerful technique that involves the formation of an interference pattern in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) by ...

Forschungszentrum Jülich

Cooling rates of molten PbTe-CdTe compositions play a determinant role in defining the nanoscale precipitate size distribution and the corresponding number densities, resulting in distinct trends of lattice thermal conductivity evolution with varying CdTe fractions. 

Understanding Nanostructuring Processes in Thermoelectrics and Their Effects on Lattice Thermal Conductivity.

We use in situ Lorentz microscopy and off-axis electron holography to investigate the formation and characteristics of skyrmion lattice defects and their relationship to the underlying crystallographic structure of a B20 FeGe thin film. We obtain experimental measurements of spin configurations at grain boundaries, which reveal inversions of crystallographic and magnetic chirality across adjacent grains, resulting in the formation of interface spin stripes at the grain boundaries. In the absence of material defects, we observe that skyrmions lattices possess dislocations and domain boundaries, in analogy to atomic crystals. Moreover, the distorted skyrmions can flexibly change their size and shape to accommodate local geometry, especially at sites of dislocations in the skyrmion lattice. Our findings provide a detailed understanding of the elasticity of topologically protected skyrmions and their correlation with underlying material defects.

Magnetic Skyrmion Formation at Lattice Defects and Grain Boundaries Studied by Quantitative Off-Axis Electron Holography.

The ability to controllably manipulate magnetic skyrmions, small magnetic whirls with particle-like properties, in nanostructured elements is a prerequisite for incorporating them into spintronic devices. Here, we use state-of-the-art electron holographic imaging to directly visualize the morphology and nucleation of magnetic skyrmions in a wedge-shaped FeGe nanostripe that has a width in the range of 45-150 nm. We find that geometrically-confined skyrmions are able to adopt a wide range of sizes and ellipticities in a nanostripe that are absent in both thin films and bulk materials and can be created from a helical magnetic state with a distorted edge twist in a simple and efficient manner. We perform a theoretical analysis based on a three-dimensional general model of isotropic chiral magnets to confirm our experimental results. The flexibility and ease of formation of geometrically confined magnetic skyrmions may help to optimize the design of skyrmion-based memory devices.

Control of morphology and formation of highly geometrically confined magnetic skyrmions.

We report the high thermoelectric performance of p-type polycrystalline SnSe obtained by the synergistic tailoring of band structures and atomic-scale defect phonon scattering through (Na,K)-codoping. The energy offsets of multiple valence bands in SnSe are decreased after Na doping and further reduced by (Na,K)-codoping, resulting in an enhancement in the Seebeck coefficient and an increase in the power factor to 492 μW m K. The lattice thermal conductivity of polycrystalline SnSe is decreased by the introduction of effective phonon scattering centers, such as point defects and antiphase boundaries. The lattice thermal conductivity of the material is reduced to values as low as 0.29 W m K at 773 K, whereas ZT is increased from 0.3 for 1% Na-doped SnSe to 1.2 for 1% (Na,K)-codoped SnSe.

Boosting the Thermoelectric Performance of (Na,K)-Codoped Polycrystalline SnSe by Synergistic Tailoring of the Band Structure and Atomic-Scale Defect Phonon Scattering.

A target Skyrmion is a flux-closed spin texture that has twofold degeneracy and is promising as a binary state in next generation universal memories. Although its formation in nanopatterned chiral magnets has been predicted, its observation has remained challenging. Here, we use off-axis electron holography to record images of target Skyrmions in a 160-nm-diameter nanodisk of the chiral magnet FeGe. We compare experimental measurements with numerical simulations, demonstrate switching between two stable degenerate target Skyrmion ground states that have opposite polarities and rotation senses, and discuss the observed switching mechanism.

Direct Imaging of a Zero-Field Target Skyrmion and Its Polarity Switch in a Chiral Magnetic Nanodisk.

Chiral magnetic skyrmions are nanoscale vortex-like spin textures that form in the presence of an applied magnetic field in ferromagnets that support the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) because of strong spin-orbit coupling and broken inversion symmetry of the crystal. In sharp contrast to other systems that allow for the formation of a variety of two-dimensional (2D) skyrmions, in chiral magnets the presence of the DMI commonly prevents the stability and coexistence of topological excitations of different types  . Recently, a new type of localized particle-like object-the chiral bobber (ChB)-was predicted theoretically in such materials  . However, its existence has not yet been verified experimentally. Here, we report the direct observation of ChBs in thin films of B20-type FeGe by means of quantitative off-axis electron holography (EH). We identify the part of the temperature-magnetic field phase diagram in which ChBs exist and distinguish two mechanisms for their nucleation. Furthermore, we show that ChBs are able to coexist with skyrmions over a wide range of parameters, which suggests their possible practical applications in novel magnetic solid-state memory devices, in which a stream of binary data bits can be encoded by a sequence of skyrmions and bobbers.

Experimental observation of chiral magnetic bobbers in B20-type FeGe.

The manipulation of magnetic states in nanoparticle supercrystals promises new pathways to design nanocrystalline magnetic materials and devices. Trench-patterned silicon substrates were used as templates to guide the self-assembly of iron oxide nanoparticles. Grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering shows that the nanoparticles form a long-range ordered structure along the trench direction while in the direction perpendicular to the trenches, no coherent structure is observable. Electron holography provides evidence of an ordered magnetic state of nanoparticle moments in the remanent state after the application of a saturation magnetic field parallel to the trenches. However, a disordered magnetic state was observed in a perpendicular geometry. Hysteresis loops indicate that the nanoparticle moments form a superferromagnetic state for the geometry parallel to the trenches. Memory effect investigations reveal that the disordered magnetic state corresponds to a collective superspin glass state in the perpendicular geometry, while the superferromagnetic state in the parallel geometry suppresses the superspin glass state.

Manipulation of dipolar magnetism in low-dimensional iron oxide nanoparticle assemblies.

Crystallographic dislocation has been well-known to be one of the major causes responsible for the unfavorable carrier dynamics in conventional semiconductor devices. Halide perovskite has exhibited promising applications in optoelectronic devices. However, how dislocation impacts its carrier dynamics in the 'defects-tolerant' halide perovskite is largely unknown. Here, via a remote epitaxy approach using polar substrates coated with graphene, we synthesize epitaxial halide perovskite with controlled dislocation density. First-principle calculations and molecular-dynamics simulations reveal weak film-substrate interaction and low density dislocation mechanism in remote epitaxy, respectively. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution atomic force microscopy and Cs-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy unveil the lattice/atomic and dislocation structure of the remote epitaxial film. The controlling of dislocation density enables the unveiling of the dislocation-carrier dynamic relation in halide perovskite. The study provides an avenue to develop free-standing halide perovskite film with low dislocation density and improved carried dynamics.

Carrier lifetime enhancement in halide perovskite via remote epitaxy.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Publisher Correction: Carrier lifetime enhancement in halide perovskite via remote epitaxy.

We use an electron holographic method to determine the charge distribution along a quasi-one-dimensional W5O14 nanowire during in situ field emission in a transmission electron microscope. The results show that the continuous charge distribution along the nanowire is not linear, but that there is an additional accumulation of charge at its apex. An analytical expression for this additional contribution to the charge distribution is proposed and its effect on the field enhancement factor and emission current is discussed.

Fengshan Zheng

Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons and Peter Grünberg Institute

Forschungszentrum Jülich

Magnetic Field Mapping using Off-Axis Electron Holography in the Transmission Electron Microscope

Fengshan Zheng

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons and Peter Grünberg Institute

Forschungszentrum Jülich

Magnetic Field Mapping using Off-Axis Electron Holography in the Transmission Electron Microscope

Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons and Peter Grünberg Institute